Don’t Sign Up For These Life Events Unless Your Relationship Is SUPER Serious!
Relationships are exciting: they usher in new beginnings, form new memories, and offer the potential of true love. Not all of them are meant to go the distance – and that’s okay. But things get messy when one partner wants to move faster than the other, and promises are made prematurely.
Some commitments – like reservations at a fancy restaurant – may be broken without doing much permanent damage to a disappointed companion.
Here are a few that should not be made until you’re pretty confident that your union is going to last:
1. Buying A Pet
While I encourage everyone to get a pet, adopting a kitten or puppy with someone you see a future with isn’t the smartest decision if your partner hasn’t yet fully committed to you. Save yourself the pain of dealing with questions like “Who gets to keep Fluffy?” after the breakup, and invest in something that can be easily parted with instead. (Have you ever considered playing parent to a goldfish? Or better yet, a pet rock?).
2. Signing A Lease
Any well-matched couple will inevitably spend most nights and weekends together. But while you may now find yourself at your partner’s place more often than at home, sharing a legal lease is way riskier than merely sharing medicine cabinet space for hair care products. Remember: while you’ve still got a place of your own, you can always go back; a lease is never as easy or as cheap to break!
3. Long Distance Travel
What sounds better than a romantic vacation to Paris with a new romantic interest?
Well, before you start counting pennies to book an intense international vacation, make sure you’re investing half your life savings on an experience with someone you’ll still be talking to after two weeks abroad. Plane tickets and hotel rooms aren’t easily transferable, and no one wants to spend a dream vacation with a nightmare of a person.
4. Making Promises To Parents
Hearing that your girlfriend’s or boyfriend’s parents love you is sweet, indeed – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your relationship is there yet. Promising to house-sit for a partner’s parents while they’re on vacation a few months from now could leave them in a bad bind. Even worse is promising them grandchildren before discussing with your partner – good luck making babies without the cooperation of the man or woman you love!
5. Family Photos
While acting as a bridesmaid or groomsman at your sibling’s wedding, did you dream of the day you’ll say, “I do,” to your own partner? Daydreaming is one thing – but actually including a new fling in family photos can have some very unfortunate results. If you haven’t been together very long or agreed to take things to the next level, you have no reason to ask your boyfriend or girlfriend to pose in a formal family photo. It’ll save both your partner and your family from a potentially awkward conversation – and an even more awkward pic ten years from now.
